John P. Moore
state senator for Worcester County · active 1908
State senator for Worcester County who, in February 1908, refused to let Ocean City be exempted from the county's local-option bill — although, as he told the Senate, he was "himself largely interested in property there" and expected that property to lose value. His party had promised the county a vote on going dry and he meant to keep the promise; in deference to him all opposition was withdrawn and the bill went to a third reading. He also chaired Worcester's delegation to the state good-roads hearings that August and was an incorporator of the Cumberland Lumber Company with ex-Governor John Walter Smith.
In the record (4)
1901 · 1901-07-18
Ocean City gets a golf course: the Ocean City Golf and Country Club is incorporated at the Atlantic Hotel in July 1901.
"A meeting of the incorporators of the Ocean City Golf and Country Club was held at the Atlantic Hotel Thursday morning" - Thursday 18 July 1901. The articles were signed by six incorporators: H. A. Godfrey of Baltimore; Charles Webb of J., of Hagerstown; John F. Waggaman of Anne Arundel County; I. Edgar Ijams of Baltimore; George M. Upshur of Baltimore; and John P. Moore of Snow Hill. Godfrey took the chair, and the officers elected for the year were George M. Upshur president, Charles Webb of J. vice-president, and H. E. Waggaman secretary and treasurer, over a board of governors including Godfrey, F. H. Purnell, J. F. Waggaman, Showell Myers and Ijams. The course was "within twenty minutes of the most distant hotels" and "promises a fine sea bath at the end of the eighteen holes"; the Atlantic's management marked its formal opening with an entertainment on Saturday 27 July. This is the earliest golf course this campaign can document at Ocean City, and the men who chartered it are the men who owned the town.
Atlantic HotelOcean City Golf and Country ClubJohn F. WaggamanGeorge M. UpshurJ. Edgar Ijams
Source · checked 2026-08-11
1908
Worcester County votes itself dry, and the fight to exempt Ocean City fails — beaten by the county's own senator, who owned property in the resort.
The General Assembly's local-option bill for Worcester County reached the Senate as a special order in February 1908. The Democratic Messenger of 15 February reported it under the head "LOCAL OPTION BILL PASSED — EFFORT TO EXEMPT OCEAN CITY A FAILURE." Senator Biddison suggested that "owing to the investments made at Ocean City by outsiders, their interests should be considered" and that they be given "a chance to get out." State Senator John P. Moore of Worcester refused: "he was himself largely interested in property there, and that he expected this to depreciate in value, but his party had promised to give the county a vote on the question as to whether it shall go dry, and he intended to live up to the pledge given." Senate President Seth asked whether the vote would be by district or countywide and was told "a majority on the dry side would wipe out liquor in the entire county." Opposition was withdrawn; a companion bill from Delegate Robley D. Jones passed the House the next day. A separate exemption bill was then introduced by a Baltimore member — "for the simple reason that they could not get one of the Representatives from this county to do it" — and was laid over into oblivion; the Messenger of 21 March crowed that "all the fuss about the Ocean City exemption bill has gone where the woodbine twineth," and that Governor Crothers would veto it in any case. The county voted in late March and went dry; from 4 April a Snow Hill shoe dealer was advertising "You Have Heard the Good News About the County going DRY … and we are happy now over the result, but in order to KEEP DRY WEAR MY 'BATTLE AXE' SHOES." The county's Anti-Saloon League, renamed the Citizens' League, ran the campaign under county chairman Orlando Harrison of Berlin — the same man then presiding over the Sinepuxent inlet company. Ocean City had been exempted from the county's local-option law in 1882; in 1908 it was not.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1909 · 1909-08-18
The Democratic judicial convention of the whole First Circuit meets at Ocean City and nominates Pattison and Robley D. Jones.
The convention met on Wednesday 18 August 1909 to name candidates for Chief Judge, to succeed Hon. W. Laird Henry of Dorchester, and for Associate Judge, to succeed Hon. Robley D. Jones of Worcester — "one of the happiest political gatherings ever held at Worcester's famous seaside resort. There was not a ripple of discord anywhere." Senator **John P. Moore**, chairman of the Worcester Democratic State Central Committee, called it to order; H. L. D. Stanford of Somerset was made chairman and L. Atwood Bennett of Wicomico secretary. Ocean City had hosted both parties' congressional conventions in 1904 and 1908; in 1909 it took the whole Eastern Shore's judiciary as well. In October the committee appointed at Ocean City travelled to Salisbury to notify Judge Jones of his nomination in the courtroom where he was sitting.
Whatever else Ocean City was in 1909, it was the room where the Eastern Shore's politics got settled.
Source · checked 2026-08-06
1912 · 1912-04-11
Chapter 564 charters an electric railway and ferry meant to run from Baltimore to Ocean City — Baltimore's own mayor among the incorporators.
The Baltimore and Eastern Shore Railway and Ferry Company was incorporated by Chapter 564 of the Acts of 1912, approved 11 April. Its incorporators were James H. Preston, Joseph F. Nossel and John R. Bland of Baltimore City, Curtis E. Crane of Kent County, Harvey B. Cooper of Caroline, Charles E. Harper of Wicomico and Edgar W. McMaster of Worcester. It was to build an electric railway out of Baltimore, cross the Chesapeake "by means of appropriate ferry boats or steamers of sufficient size and capacity for the carriage and transportation of passengers and freight or for the carriage and transportation of the cars of said company," and run on across the Shore through Easton, Cambridge, Denton, Princess Anne, Crisfield and Salisbury "to the Town of Snow Hill, Pocomoke City and Ocean City, in Worcester county," with power to build collateral branches to any town the directors chose. The act was expressly made subject to the new Public Service Commission Law of 1910. Chapter 565 of the same session chartered a companion scheme, the Eastern Shore Power, Light and Railway Company — among its incorporators Worcester's own Senator John P. Moore — running from Deal's Island through Princess Anne and Snow Hill to Sinepuxent Bay. Neither line appears ever to have been built, and both belong with the 1908 Lewes-Rehoboth-Ocean City trolley syndicate and the paper Baltimore and Ocean City Railroad as evidence of how badly promoters wanted a second way to the beach.
Source · checked 2026-08-06